Moscow stabber had maps of synagogues

"An unknown man burst into a synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya street and started to attack the people gathered there with a knife," Itar-Tass news agency quoted a city police source as saying.

Police spokesmen declined to comment on the reports.

Jewish youth Aharon Yehezkel, 19, has surgery on his neck after being injured in the attack, and is no longer in life threatening condition, according to a Russian Jewish communal organization.

Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar will meet with the Russian defense minister on Friday and discuss the anti-Semitic knife attack. A search of the suspect found knives, maps of Moscow on which synagogues were marked, and neo-Nazi literature.

Video courtesy of RTVI

The attacker, 20-year-old Moscow resident Alexander Koptsev, was taken into police custody.

Chief Moscow prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev told reporters "the attacker was shouting words that showed he was motivated by ethnic and religious hatred." He said it was not immediately clear whether the suspect was a member of any anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi groups.

According to various reports, at least 10 people were injured, including four in moderate-to-serious condition. 

The public relations' office of Tal Ravina, who represents the Jewish community in Russia, issued a statement saying that four victims were evacuated in serious condition to a nearby hospital and are awaiting surgery.

An assistant to the community's rabbi Yitzhak Kugen, said among those seriously injured is the synagogue cantor, Michael Mishulin. The rabbi is also believed to be in serious condition.

'I heard screams and jumped on him'

Kugen's son Yossi described the attack to Ynet.

"A man entered with a large knife in his hand. He stabbed the security guard and ran into the synagogue. He entered the kitchen and started stabbing those present," he said.

"I heard screams, jumped on him and caught him. I pulled him to the ground and then the security guards arrives and took away his knife and handcuffed him. Afterwards police arrived," he added. "I was not injured but I am covered in blood from the others. He tried to stab me but did not succeed."

"The attacker entered and attacked whoever he saw. He managed to injure about eight people. I didn't hear with my own ears but apparently he called out anti-Semitic cries," he said.

The Moscow synagogue   (Photo: Shmuel Rivkin)

Marina, a member of the Jewish community, told Ynet that among the injured are six Jews, head of the local security team and a Turkish construction worker.

She added that office employers and bystanders were also attacked. 

The synagogue’s secretary, who identified herself as Tatiana, said she heard worshipers shouting.

Svatlana, a kitchen worker said, “I saw a man running with a big knife. I saw injured people lying on the floor.”

Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar said the attack was part of a growing a fascist "plague" in the country.

"In places where the ideas of fascism are propagandized, in the end without fail they will turn into reality, as happened today in Moscow," he told Interfax by telephone from Jerusalem.

Lazar said he had decided to cut short a trip to Israel.

Foreign Ministry condemns stabbing

According to Foreign Ministry instructions, the premises is heavily secured and security guards patrol the entrances. The community has been in close contact with local police after suspects were arrested for planning anti-Semitic attacks.

Executive Director of Jewish communities

in the former Soviet Union Avraham Berkowitz said people inside the building told him the suspect got past security and started stabbing people, attacking six in all, including an Israeli citizen.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called the Israeli embassy in Moscow and demanded diplomats ask the Russian authorities to fight anti-Semitism in the wake of the attack.

Ministry officials have requested the Russian Foreign Ministry to update Israel on the police investigation launched into the incident.

In October a synagogue was desecrated in Saint Petersburg. Police have also noted a rise in attacks against Jewish and African students. Last year a bill signed by Russian parliamentarians to ban Jewish organizations from Russian caused uproar.

An Israeli government report has ranked Russia third after France and Britain for instances of anti-Semitic violence. More than a million Jews left for Israel in the last years of the Soviet Union, but around a million remain.

Reuters and AP contributed to the report